You may be thinking 'Wow, you still run this blog?' Or 'Wow I haven't disagreed with you about a movie in a while' Or even just 'I miss hearing about the life of an All Round Entertainer.'
But have no fear, for I'm back and maaaaaaaannnnnn are there alot of crazy updates coming your way including
LOADS of movie reviews
LOADS of artwork (I've still been drawing, just not posting)
NEW collaboration
NEW full-time
NEW freelance jobs
MORE Guess the Sketches
MORE films
UPDATES to the website
PROJECT 250
MORE films
UPDATES to the website
PROJECT 250
and much, much more.
And so without further ado, allow me to proceed onto first on the list.
The Superman reboot, Man of Steel.
Reboot of Steel?
What were they thinking with the Superman Reboot?!
Admittedly it's been over a month since I last viewed Man Of Steel but I'll see what I can remember...
OK so everything needs a dark, brooding reboot these days. It's an unwritten rule. Everything has to be more Dark Knight- look at The Amazing Spiderman, Evil Dead, Carrie, bloody everything. Even Ghost Rider. *Shivers*
In short: So we take Superman, drain out his bright, shiny red yellow and blue colours and give him a grim origin story. Add to the mix the bloody thirsty, slow motion loving director of 300 and add in Chris Nolan from the Dark Knight for good measure. Try and revive Kevin Costner's career, Russell Crowe's reputation and hire the best looking person they could find to play Superman. Check.
You know, I could go into a standard review here but to be honest, I'm getting a bit bored of doing that for comic book films (see my last thousand, they all go: dark past, death of mentor, bad guy comes to power, hero finds inner strength, bad guy loses). We know the plot before we step into the cinema, even with this new direction, it's still going to follow the same formula (apart from the manner of the ending, which I'll come to later). The acting isn't stellar, but is solid all round, Maximus actually surprises me with how good he is. CGI is pretty phenomenal, but then, it's what you'd expect from today's cinema. Nice soundtrack, although the main tune is a bit underused maybe?
Instead I'm going to look at the how successful it is as a reboot. Does it distance itself away from the originals to warrant a reincarnation? Are these differences a good thing or a bad thing?
GOOD
Ok, Superman DID need a reboot. Why? Because DC just have to have a Justice League, or at least a shared cinematic universe now that Marvel have nailed the Avengers and taken about 60% of all the money ever printed in the world. And were they going to do that with a sequel to Brandon Routh's Superman Returns? Nope. It was camp, the costume looks ridiculous today and Lois Lane is married to Cyclops, I mean James Marsden and has a CHILD. Eeesh.
To warrant a reboot, a film has to look and feel different to what came before it. Especially if the previous franchise was pretty recent (here's looking at you Amazing Spider-man). The good news is that Man of Steel really does. It looks like they've hired an actual cinematographer for some of it, with amazing washed out gluey/grey shallow depth of field flashback sequences. Amazing to see in a comic book movie. And of course Superman's costume looks different, more serious and more... well still not realistic, but I don't laugh everytime I see the pants anymore, so that's a plus. Also we get to see the Pandora-esque CGI filled world of Krypton and loads of crazy Kryptonian spaceships. Although I hated these parts, they still felt like this film tried to distance itself from the originals and wasn't scared to stand on its own two feet. Kudos, Zack Snyder.
The neck snap. To be honest I personally LOVED this. At a time where comic book movies are doing so damn little to surprise me, I liked how Superman did what we didn't expect him to do. He did what, as far as I can remember, virtually no other superhero has. And just after he did it, the screaming 'Nooooooooo!!!!!!' was incredibly powerful. Athough this was absolutely ruined when the direct next scene instantly changes to a more comedic tone, with Supes saying how American he is, and some stupid slag saying how hot he is, in the middle of a bright desert. Still, the big problem is that no flagship superhero, especially Superman, ever WOULD cross this line and that's what brings me to why this is a bad reboot.
BAD
Ok so you have to distance yourself from the original to justify a reboot. Fine. But when does a reboot distance itself so much that it becomes a separate franchise entirely? You can retell a story in a completely different way, but there has to be one fundamental aspect about the character that has to stay the same, otherwise you might as well just make something entirely. Unfortunately, that's what goes wrong here. This ISN'T a Superman film.
For a start, a dark gritty reboot suits Batman. We want to see less bat-nipples and ice puns and more solemn caves and difficult choices that make our hero an outcast. Funny enough, he IS a dark and gritty character. Superman runs about in red panties with a bright S on his chest and an impenetrable blue outfit and red cape, while sporting a jerry curl. It's not as natural a transition to make this character fit into a more miserable world, he's more appealing to younger audiences, which is fine.
What makes Superman, well, Superman? He has pretty much no weakness, (and there's not even Kryptonite in this film), not much of a sense of humour or even personality and his main trait is that he tries to protect everyone. This is where my main problem lies in Man Of Steel. There is SO DAMN MUCH violence and destruction in this movie. This is why Zack Snyder shouldn't be given a big budget. Because the whole things becomes a 2 hour explosion film. It's like if someone ever taught Michael Bay how to use special effects. Zod and Supes destroy Metropolis over 9000 times, surely killing thousands of innocents and putting pretty much everyone who miraculously survives, out of a job (except for builders.) Although of course Superman isn't directly doing this, it isn't appropriate in a Superman movie, especially when he doesn't even react to it. And if you're trying to market this as a comic book movie for everyone, having him execute Zod is too far. Get out of 300/Sucker Punch mode Snyder! You wouldn't see any of the Avengers do that. Batman can do this type of stuff (although even he doesn't cross the line, but his personality would allow him to get alot closer to it than mild-mannered Clark Kent) Don't make Superman a bat-clone just because you don't know what else to do with him. Bad Snyder.
I mean how are you going to market this film? Alot of comic book movie revenues come from the young generation who buy the merchandise, or even go to see the film with their parents. Superman was always a hero that this was possible for. Would you really want to take your child to a film where it ends with the chiselled, good looking hero with a giant S on his chest, snapping the villain's neck? Some role model. And don't get me started on how much worse this is made with the widespread religious symbolism as well. Sticking with a 15 certificate would have lost some sales, but been more appropriate. Want the younger audience? Which I assume you would considering it's a Superman film. Make it more child friendly. Determined to have a film that ends with the hero having to choose 'the greater good' by crossing the line? Fine, do it to a known darker and probably lesser known hero, like Spawn or something.
Overall I think this is a much better movie than it is a reboot. I personality liked the unpredictability and if this was a brand new superhero I would have appreciated the final decision to cross the line alot more. I'm not a particularly big Superman fan, so I was prepared to accept some changes, but if we had, say, Spiderman beheading Electro in the next film, I would snap! But it's not a brand new hero. It's red white and blue Superman. Mr perfect. With a huge fanbase and an audience who already have preconceptions about him. His only defining feature/weakness is his strong morals and with the execution and the amount of destruction, he loses his core, and without that, it's too far from Superman to use the Superman name.
Good luck with the Justice League where they're all going to be the same dark, brooding, humourless characters with no moral centres.
VERDICT!:
Still watch it. Good for a non-die hard comic book movie fan, it's nice and refreshing to see the hero backed into a corner and being forced to cross the line.
Would have been a much higher score if there was more time for the emotional impact to hit Supes after the execution.
I enjoyed it as change from the norm for comic book movies, but it's almost unrecognisably Superman, which, admittedly, won't bother everyone.
3.6/5
Seen Man of Steel? Feeling down and need a cheering up? Head over to www.scottynewton.com and watch Desperate Times, under the Filmmaker tab =) #shamelessplug
Next time, PACIFIC RIM! (Or The Wolverine, or possibly This Is the End/At World's End, whichever I can type up first!)
You know, I could go into a standard review here but to be honest, I'm getting a bit bored of doing that for comic book films (see my last thousand, they all go: dark past, death of mentor, bad guy comes to power, hero finds inner strength, bad guy loses). We know the plot before we step into the cinema, even with this new direction, it's still going to follow the same formula (apart from the manner of the ending, which I'll come to later). The acting isn't stellar, but is solid all round, Maximus actually surprises me with how good he is. CGI is pretty phenomenal, but then, it's what you'd expect from today's cinema. Nice soundtrack, although the main tune is a bit underused maybe?
Instead I'm going to look at the how successful it is as a reboot. Does it distance itself away from the originals to warrant a reincarnation? Are these differences a good thing or a bad thing?
GOOD
Ok, Superman DID need a reboot. Why? Because DC just have to have a Justice League, or at least a shared cinematic universe now that Marvel have nailed the Avengers and taken about 60% of all the money ever printed in the world. And were they going to do that with a sequel to Brandon Routh's Superman Returns? Nope. It was camp, the costume looks ridiculous today and Lois Lane is married to Cyclops, I mean James Marsden and has a CHILD. Eeesh.
 |
| Gone are the panties! |
The neck snap. To be honest I personally LOVED this. At a time where comic book movies are doing so damn little to surprise me, I liked how Superman did what we didn't expect him to do. He did what, as far as I can remember, virtually no other superhero has. And just after he did it, the screaming 'Nooooooooo!!!!!!' was incredibly powerful. Athough this was absolutely ruined when the direct next scene instantly changes to a more comedic tone, with Supes saying how American he is, and some stupid slag saying how hot he is, in the middle of a bright desert. Still, the big problem is that no flagship superhero, especially Superman, ever WOULD cross this line and that's what brings me to why this is a bad reboot.
BAD
Ok so you have to distance yourself from the original to justify a reboot. Fine. But when does a reboot distance itself so much that it becomes a separate franchise entirely? You can retell a story in a completely different way, but there has to be one fundamental aspect about the character that has to stay the same, otherwise you might as well just make something entirely. Unfortunately, that's what goes wrong here. This ISN'T a Superman film.
For a start, a dark gritty reboot suits Batman. We want to see less bat-nipples and ice puns and more solemn caves and difficult choices that make our hero an outcast. Funny enough, he IS a dark and gritty character. Superman runs about in red panties with a bright S on his chest and an impenetrable blue outfit and red cape, while sporting a jerry curl. It's not as natural a transition to make this character fit into a more miserable world, he's more appealing to younger audiences, which is fine.
What makes Superman, well, Superman? He has pretty much no weakness, (and there's not even Kryptonite in this film), not much of a sense of humour or even personality and his main trait is that he tries to protect everyone. This is where my main problem lies in Man Of Steel. There is SO DAMN MUCH violence and destruction in this movie. This is why Zack Snyder shouldn't be given a big budget. Because the whole things becomes a 2 hour explosion film. It's like if someone ever taught Michael Bay how to use special effects. Zod and Supes destroy Metropolis over 9000 times, surely killing thousands of innocents and putting pretty much everyone who miraculously survives, out of a job (except for builders.) Although of course Superman isn't directly doing this, it isn't appropriate in a Superman movie, especially when he doesn't even react to it. And if you're trying to market this as a comic book movie for everyone, having him execute Zod is too far. Get out of 300/Sucker Punch mode Snyder! You wouldn't see any of the Avengers do that. Batman can do this type of stuff (although even he doesn't cross the line, but his personality would allow him to get alot closer to it than mild-mannered Clark Kent) Don't make Superman a bat-clone just because you don't know what else to do with him. Bad Snyder.
 |
| Old school Supes may have teased, but never crossed the line |
I mean how are you going to market this film? Alot of comic book movie revenues come from the young generation who buy the merchandise, or even go to see the film with their parents. Superman was always a hero that this was possible for. Would you really want to take your child to a film where it ends with the chiselled, good looking hero with a giant S on his chest, snapping the villain's neck? Some role model. And don't get me started on how much worse this is made with the widespread religious symbolism as well. Sticking with a 15 certificate would have lost some sales, but been more appropriate. Want the younger audience? Which I assume you would considering it's a Superman film. Make it more child friendly. Determined to have a film that ends with the hero having to choose 'the greater good' by crossing the line? Fine, do it to a known darker and probably lesser known hero, like Spawn or something.
Overall I think this is a much better movie than it is a reboot. I personality liked the unpredictability and if this was a brand new superhero I would have appreciated the final decision to cross the line alot more. I'm not a particularly big Superman fan, so I was prepared to accept some changes, but if we had, say, Spiderman beheading Electro in the next film, I would snap! But it's not a brand new hero. It's red white and blue Superman. Mr perfect. With a huge fanbase and an audience who already have preconceptions about him. His only defining feature/weakness is his strong morals and with the execution and the amount of destruction, he loses his core, and without that, it's too far from Superman to use the Superman name.
Good luck with the Justice League where they're all going to be the same dark, brooding, humourless characters with no moral centres.
VERDICT!:
 |
| Damn you Zack Snyder!!!!!!!!!! |
Still watch it. Good for a non-die hard comic book movie fan, it's nice and refreshing to see the hero backed into a corner and being forced to cross the line.
Would have been a much higher score if there was more time for the emotional impact to hit Supes after the execution.
I enjoyed it as change from the norm for comic book movies, but it's almost unrecognisably Superman, which, admittedly, won't bother everyone.
3.6/5
Seen Man of Steel? Feeling down and need a cheering up? Head over to www.scottynewton.com and watch Desperate Times, under the Filmmaker tab =) #shamelessplug
Next time, PACIFIC RIM! (Or The Wolverine, or possibly This Is the End/At World's End, whichever I can type up first!)
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